About Me

Publications: Japji Sahib: The Song of the Soul by Guru Nanak translated by Ek Ong Kaar Kaur Khalsa. Anand Sahib: The Song of Bliss by Guru Amar Das translated by Ek Ong Kaar Kaur Khalsa. Available through www.sikhdharma.org.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

A Little Note on Peace

Sat Nam.

During Peace Prayer Day at Summer Solstice this year in Espanola, NM, it was my blessing to be part of an Interfaith panel talking about peace. Each of us on the panel had five minutes to share our perspective on the subject. Today, I am grateful to share this brief little vignette that I wrote for the panel. Hope you enjoy. May peace take root in your own heart and blossom forever.

Peace Prayer Day, Ram Das Puri, New Mexico: June 20, 2009

The problem of war comes from the animal instinct of a person. When we live solely in a territorial way, when we want to establish our status, then we are constantly hustling and hassling to get something outside of ourselves. It comes from a sense of survival. That sense of survival breeds in us a deep insecurity.

All wars begin from this root. Of territory, of desiring something – and then they are sustained through pain and vengeance – the need for retaliation, the animal instinct to re-establish dominance. This cycle of violence has been going on for thousands of years on our planet. And despite all of the churches and synagogues and temples in the world, we have not found a way to come out of it.

The reason we haven’t come out of it is because we haven’t committed ourselves fully to our human identity and our human nature. Yogi Bhajan once said that God gave the gift of intuition to the human as our mode of survival. If our third eye is open, if our arcline is active – or we can say in modern terms – if the central brain is developed and the electro-magnetic pulse of the brain is emitting at the frequency of the totality of the hemispheres – then we will know in advance what to do to secure our future. Rather than looking around to see what we can get from outside of ourselves, we will look within and be intuitively guided to our best and highest destiny. Through that inner guidance, we will not only survive – we will prosper and bloom, and that security within us will give way to peace.

In the Kundalini Yoga and Sikh tradition, the way to develop the arcline is by consciously vibrating sacred sounds that focus the mind on the Creator, and on the Light of God within each person. It is a simple and powerful act. Rather than having the mind create schemes or worry about the future, the trick is to discipline the mind to just focus on the Divine. If that focus is sincerely and lovingly there, then you shall be guided from the inside to where your security lives; and what you need will be brought forward to you. This is the promise of being a human being. It is a totally different mentality than living as an animal. The key to elevating ourselves from our animal nature to the human vibration is through prayer.

Once that prayer is real, the security gets established and peace comes.

I would like to close by sharing a passage with you from a prayer called “The Jewel of Peace,” written by the fifth Sikh Guru, Guru Arjan, who lived in the 16-17th century:

"If for one single moment, you sing in a sacred way from the depth of your being about the virtues of the Divine, you will gain access to all of the etheric realms, and absolute emancipation and liberation will come to you.

"When you focus you mind on talking about the Divine Spirit that holds and is contained in all things, so many empires will be established and spread.

"When you use your tongue to continually recite with love about the Divine in your own heartbeat, so much food, so many clothes and such good company comes to you.

"When the prayer of the perfect Teacher makes its home in your heart, then your actions become noble, creating prosperity and splendor.

"Oh Divine Master, please give me the gift of living in the community of those people who pray this way. Then, oh Nanak, peace will blossom forever."

3 Comments:

I am interested in reading your book on Japuji Sahib. I wonder if you can send me an extract. One pauri - any one will do. I just want to make an assesment to see if I should buy it or not. Amazon only have used copies. Is the book still in print?